Government arrogant in face of real concern

David Parker’s dismissal of plunging business confidence levels as ‘the vibe of a self-selected subset of CEOs’ is just the latest example of a concerning level of arrogance from this Government, National’s Economic Development spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says.

“The latest ANZ Own Activity Index, which measures firms’ perceptions of their own prospects and which has dropped to the lowest level since May 2009, should be sending a clear message to the Government that it is driving down business confidence.

“The Treasury’s latest Monthly Economic Indicators report has also highlighted weakening business confidence as one of the key risks to their growth forecasts. Yet Mr Parker continues to arrogantly dismiss all these real concerns.

“First he called the views of business leaders ‘junk’ then he derided them as a ‘survey of the emotions of CEOs’. Now they’re just ‘the vibe of a self-selected subset’.

“The level of arrogance is astounding. Is the Economic Development Minister saying that Kiwi CEO’s are being too emotional when they worry about the costs being added to their businesses? Or about bad industrial law changes and entire industries being unsettled without consultation as happened to oil and gas exploration?

“When facing a business confidence crisis the Government should be prepared to listen and act, but instead it is getting more arrogant by the day.

“Every day that it fails to act, business confidence plummets further, growth slows and opportunities for New Zealanders are lost.”